The Return of the King

The Return of the King
Symbol	R3
Based on	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Game	LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Universe	The Lord of the Rings
Starting Level	The Secret Stairs
Ending Level	Mount Doom
Number of levels	6
How to unlock	Complete The Two Towers

Gandalf the White: "Now come the days of the king."

Aragorn: "This day does not belong to one man but to all."

Mount Doom

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the third and final episode in LEGO The Lord of the Rings.

Story

Frodo, Sam and Gollum witness how the Witch-king of Angmar, lord of the nine Nazgûl, set out for Gondor with his army of Orcs. Gollum plots to frame Sam for eating food and desiring the Ring; Influenced by the growing power of the Ring, Frodo falls for the deception and orders Sam to go home. Gollum then tricks Frodo into venturing into the lair of the giant spider Shelob. Frodo narrowly escapes and confronts Gollum, who falls into a chasm after a fight.

Shelob discovers, paralyzes and binds Frodo, but Sam wounds and drives her away and, lamenting Frodo's apparent death, takes the Ring. Sam realizes his mistake when a group of Orcs take Frodo captive, but manages to rescue him while the Orcs fight among themselves. Now inside Mordor, the hobbits, disguised as Orcs, continue towards Mount Doom, their destination.

Meanwhile, at Helm's Deep, Pippin looks towards the palantír and sees Sauron and a burning tree. Gandalf deduces that the enemy plans to attack the capital of Gondor, Minas Tirith. As King Théoden gathers his army, Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying for refusing to leave Middle-earth. Elrond gives Aragorn Andúril, reforged from the fragments of King Elendil's sword, Narsil, and urges him to promise to claim the throne of Gondor, to which he is heir. Together with Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn travels the Paths of the Dead and promises to free the ghosts from their curse if they come to the aid of Gondor.

Théoden arrives and leads his army against the Orcs. Despite initial success against the Orcs in the ensuing battle, they are decimated by Haradrim riding Oliphaunt and the Witch-king mortally wounds Théoden; However, his niece Éowyn kills the Witch-king with the help of Merry. Théoden dies in the arms of his niece. Then Aragorn arrives with his Army of the Dead, who defeat Sauron's forces. Their oath is fulfilled and the Dead are freed from their curse.

Aragorn decides to march towards Mordor to distract Sauron from the now extremely weak Frodo and Sam; All of Sauron's remaining forces march to confront Aragorn's distraction, allowing the hobbits to reach Mount Doom.

Gollum, who survived his previous fall, attacks them, but Frodo manages to enter the mountain. There, he succumbs to the power of the Ring and puts it on his finger, but Gollum manages to bite his finger and claim it, causing a fight between them before falling off the ledge. Frodo manages to hold on and Sam picks him up as Gollum falls to his death in the lava and takes the ring with him, defeating Sauron once and for all. Aragorn's army emerges victorious when its enemies and the lands of Mordor collapse and Mount Doom erupts, with Frodo and Sam narrowly escaping. Gandalf rescues the hobbits with the help of the eagles and the surviving Fellowship is happily reunited in Minas Tirith.

Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor and marries Arwen.

Levels

1. The Secret Stairs
2. Cirith Ungol
3. The Paths of the Dead
4. The Battle of Pelennor Fields
5. The Black Gate
6. Mount Doom

Characters

• Frodo*
• Sam*
• Gollum*
• Shagrat*
• Frodo (Weary)
• Sam (Weary)
• Frodo (Orc Disguise)
• Sam (Orc Disguise)
• Aragorn*
• Gimli*
• Legolas*
• Éowyn (Dernhelm)*
• King Théoden (Armor)*
• Merry (Rohirrim Squire)*
• Aragorn (Gondor Armor)
• Pippin (Gondor Armor)*
• Gandalf the White*
• The Witch-king*
• Mordor Orc*
• Uruk-hai
• Pippin
• Merry
• Sauron*
• King Théoden
• Rohirrim Soldier*
• King of the Dead*
• Soldier of the Dead*
• Gondor Soldier*
• Haradrim*
• Arwen Evenstar
• Aragorn (Royal Armor)
• Elrond (Third Age)*
• Boromir* (As a Ghost in the secret ending)

Differences from the film

• In the film, Frodo enters Shelob's lair alone, while in the game Gollum enters there with him. This change was made to make the game more cooperative.
• Denethor does not appear in the game at all, so his scenes with Faramir and his madness are omitted entirely, although he can be purchased as a playable character.
• In the film, Éowyn grabs Merry onto her horse. In the game, she grabs him onto a goat.
• In the game, after Gollum's long fall following the encounter at Shelob's Lair, this is when Frodo sees Sam and forgives him, while in the film, it is after Sam saves him at Cirith Ungol.
• Shagrat helps Sam defeat Shelob in the game. This is to make the game more cooperative.
• When Shelob stings Frodo, his eyes turn white and he makes a shocking expression on his face in the game, while in the film, he foams at the mouth and ends up with a blank face.
• In the film, Éowyn fights the Witch-king alone. As soon as he was about to finish her off, Merry appears out of nowhere and stabs him. In the game, Merry and Éowyn fight the Witch-king together to make the game more cooperative.
• The Witch-king deflates in the game after Éowyn defeats him.
• The game's subtitles call Guritz "orc harbour master." Also, this is the only time he appears in the game.
• In the game, Frodo does not appear tied up and with his face covered by Shelob's web while he is held captive by the orcs.
• In the game, Gorbag ​​is killed by Frodo and Sam when they hit a ceiling lamp and it falls on top of him and he falls deeper into the Cirith Ungol tower. Before that, Sam hits Gorbag ​​with a frying pan, causing him to lose his balance. In the film, Sam uses Sting to kill Gorbag ​​from behind just as he tries to torture Frodo.
• Sam never gives the Ring to Frodo in the game after he rescues him. Instead, he reveals that the Ring was hidden inside Frodo's shirt.
• The game features the part of the book that is omitted in the film where Frodo and Sam head to Cirith Ungol to find the orc's armor as a disguise.
• Éomer does not appear at all in The Black Gate level, despite being present in the film.
• During the battle at the Black Gate, the Mouth of Sauron is never revealed there when the gate is opened. Instead, Sauron's army marches immediately, as in the theatrical version of the film. But in the book and the Extended Edition of the film, he does. However, the Mouth of Sauron can be unlocked after completing the bonus level.
• Frodo and Sam arrive at Mount Doom while the battle at the Black Gate takes place in the film. In the game, the two stages were divided into two levels, with The Black Gate and Mount Doom as the penultimate and last level respectively.
• Gollum knocks Sam unconscious with a flowerpot instead of a rock in the game.
• Gollum pops Frodo's hand in the game instead of biting his finger, but Frodo later puts it back on.
• Sam does not take Frodo's hand until Sauron is defeated in the game.
• After Sauron is defeated, the Black Gate does not collapse.
• In the game, when the eagles arrive to save Frodo and Sam after the two escape Mount Doom, Gandalf wears an aviator's hat and baron's glasses and even pulls a lever on the flying eagle.
• In the game, Arwen and Elrond are present during Aragorn's coronation, but in the film, the elves arrive after Aragorn is crowned when Arwen surprises him and the two share a reunion.
• All of the film's multiple endings, aside from Gray Havens, are omitted from the game.
• The secret ending does not show Frodo giving the red book to Sam.
• This version of the scene from The Gray Havens has a happier ending as Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir, who appears as a ghost, join the remaining members of the fellowship as they watch the Elven ship leave Middle-earth.